Apr. 5—The owners of Ferrante's Lakeview don't want clients to panic when they hear that the longstanding wedding and banquet facility in Hempfield is for sale.

"We do want to retire, but it might take a year or two to sell," said Susan Domasky of Greensburg, president of the family-owned business. "We have many events to honor, and we will be there for everyone."

The property at 6153 Route 30 is listed for $3.9 million with Realty One Group. In addition to the event facility, the 20-acre property includes rental units and a lake.

"We are booked all this year and a lot of next year," Domasky said. "We may even go a few years after that, we don't know. This is going to take a while to sell.

"There's no reason to panic."

Domasky runs the business with her sister and brother-in-law, Cindy and Dave Henderson of Greensburg. Cindy Henderson is the vice president, and Dave is the executive chef.

The sisters are the children of the original owners, the late John and Jessie Ferrante, who founded the business 66 years ago.

Prior to the purchase, the Ferrantes ran a small bar in Grapeville.

"It took everything they had to buy that land," Domasky said.

At the time, she said, the only neighbors were a drive-in hot dog stand and a bar across the empty stretch of two-lane road.

The Ferrantes started by building a bar and one banquet room, eventually expanding the facility to four banquet rooms covering 27,000 square feet.

"The weddings started at 10 a.m. and the reception lasted all day," Domasky said. "They reserved the wedding over the phone. It was done on a handshake — no contract, no computers, no deposits, and they would pay after the honeymoon. It was total trust."

Every couple got the same package.

"They had the same buffet — chicken, potato salad, cabbage rolls," Domasky said. "Same menu, same decor, the wedding cakes all looked the same. They had the fountain, stacked champagne glasses, plastic swans and that gold paper leaf.

"It started at $2.50 a person, and that included an appetizer, salad and the buffet," she said. "We had wine for 25 cents a glass, a lunch menu for 5 cents."

Living up to the name

The Ferrantes' original purchase didn't include the approximately 7-acre, artesian well-fed lake adjacent to the venue. They bought it about 40 years ago, Domasky said.

"They wanted to buy it to preserve the beauty for the community. When you go down Route 30, you always look at that lake," Domasky said.

The lake was drained in 2004 after state environmental officials deemed its dam unsafe. After repairs and refurbishment, Mountain Valley Lake was refilled in 2012.

"It just didn't feel right calling it Lakeview with no lake," John Ferrante said at the time.

The Ferrantes went to great lengths to treat their employees well, Domasky said. In return, "they loved to come to work. When they hired an employee, they never left."

The sisters remember piling into the back seat when their father would pick up the servers and cooks — women whose husbands drove the one family car to their jobs.

Domasky and the Hendersons say they hope the buyer will keep the property as an event space.

"When anybody looks at a commercial property, they always ask, 'What's the use of it?' " said Realtor Steve Limani, the listing agent for Realty One Group. "Obviously, they've been killing it as a wedding venue. It's been super-successful and it's a very profitable business."

If that isn't in the cards, Limani has another vision for the property.

"I would love to see it stay a wedding venue, but if somebody wasn't going to do that, I would hope that they would try to make it into a destination place," he said. "To me, a really cool thing would be to make it a community where they have a shopping plaza and then above or behind it, you put in condominium-type housing. You could have a walking trail around the lake.

"I think a mix of rentals and boutique shops would utilize the land, the landscape, the location and close proximity to other businesses."

Limani noted that there are loan programs that can help a buyer purchase a successful business for as little as 10% down.

Domasky said that Ferrante's Lakeview is continuing to book wedding and other special event reservations for the foreseeable future, and that they will be sure to honor all commitments.

"I don't want people to think we're not going to be there for them," she said. "We have an excellent reputation and we would never go back on our word.

"But now is the time to book if you want the Ferrante family to do your wedding or special event."

For more information or to book a tour of the property, call 724-972-1543 or visit loopnet.com.

Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .